The confusion chapter 3
by Gemeni9000
Summary: The Animorphs have now turned up, but now they have to escape Visser three, and it's all up to Marco


I do not own these characters. I don't get profit from them. K A Applegate  
does. Praise her for Marco, Tobias, Jake, and the rest of them  
animorphs!!!!!!!!  
I focused on the scene ahead. I had to forget about Jan for the moment. There were more important matters to attend to. Had ignore the fact she persisted to chase me down on the ground. Easier said than done. Either I wanted to hit her or as actually beginning to like her, despite the fact she tied me up and wouldn't listen to me saying that I wasn't Visser three like she believed.  
Still a fair flight away, I could see with my owl eyes a yeerk bug-fighter shooting through the night-sky downwards, like some meteorite.  
I presumed, or more like hoped, that they were the other animorphs. But if they were, what worried me more was the blacker ship that was now coming down after it. Shaped like some ancient battle-axe. Visser three's blade ship. The real Visser three.  
I flew as quickly as I could on my owl wings. I cursed myself for not morphing an osprey. Not that I could of gone any faster, with the cold dead night air.  
I tried thought-speak Rachel! Jake! Anybody! Can you hear me?  
Marco.....that you? .........barely hear........ Jake said in a faint 'voice'.  
Is that you in the bug-fighter!? I called.  
Yes............us. Rachel replied. Where.................you?  
I easily guessed what Rachel probably said. Sorry, I got a little tied up! I called out. I was much more closer now, with both of us heading closer to each other.  
Yeah right..........you....out for........coffee break." Rachel called out sarcastically. I smiled inwardly. I was bound for a scolding. The others didn't know where I was.  
.........ship gaining....us. Tobias called out.  
I looked at the now larger bug fighter and the even larger blade ship. The blade ship was now very close to the bug-fighter, nearly just above them.  
You guys, the blade ships practically hanging over your head! I 'shouted.'  
I know.........trying ......fix that. Ax grumbled under his usual polite tone.  
I watched the bug-fighter again. It accelerated further away from the blade ship but the blade ship held it's position. The bug fighter swung around and tried shooting, taking up the offensive mode. It shot once, twice....  
One was absorbed by the blades ship's hull, the other hit it and did a bit of damage. Not much, but enough to slow the blade ship down enough for the bug fighter to gain several metres. Not much.  
You hit the blade ship! You're getting away a bit! I called.  
Not by much. Ax commented. The thought-speak was getting stronger.  
Then the blade ship just stopped. In mid-air. Still above the bug-fighter somewhat.  
Then I saw something about twice as large as the bug-fighter come out from the back of the blade ship. Like a flower, with several stems. Like a squid perhaps. It hovered less securly than the blade ship did. Then it dropped down and aimed itself at the blade ship.  
What is that? I asked.  
It's a fion jaxib. Ax explained. They can live in the pressureless higher atmosphere of any gas planet or plant with a large enough atmosphere, higher than 10 kilometres. They can survive in space for a time..  
Visser three? Jake guessed.  
Visser three. Ax confirmed.  
The fion jojib caught up to the bug-fighter and used it's tentacles to latch on.  
Not so fast. Visser three spoke. Destroying our Actinide refinery would cost me a bit, as you Andalite bandits always do. I shall make you pay yet.  
Now I had caught up enough the big fighter was like on the other side of the high way. I flapped my wings like crazy, speeding as well as I could. Just another two metres....half a metre........my talons hit the black hull of the big-fighter. Contact.  
I'm just outside if could let me in. I announced.  
You need to find the emergeny airlock. It is located on the right side. Ax said calmly.  
Now you tell me. I flapped off, zipping amid the thick tentacles Visser three now had. Visser three spotted me somehow.  
Another Andalite? Visser three snarled. A thick tentacle lifted up and slammed down to my right, damaging the bug-fighter's hull making a long dent.  
Woah! I flapped hard banking to my left. I turned again back towards the fighter's right side. Then one of the thinner wiry stiff tentacles lifted up and whipped down through the air in front of me, and waved madly around in the air.  
I flared and flapped hard again, stopping my forward momentum. Too late.  
The tentacle whipped into my wings. One of them was hit so hard the tendons in it was torn. I was bleeding. I landed on the smooth surface of the fighter. Had to get to the other side somehow.  
I hopped onto one of the thicker, rougher, slower tentacles that were coiled around the ship and used my owl talons to grip as I waddled along slowly to the right side of the ship, harder than it looks with the high altitute winds blowing at you.   
I'm coming in! I announced. A hatch opened up on the hull, and Ax grabbed me off the tentacles, fighting the wind, and pulled me in as the hatch began to shut. I started to demorph.  
Before the hatch could shut, a thick tentacled squeezed its way through the shrinking hole. The clubbed end slamming up and down, used like some gigantic fleshy fly-swatter, giving the walls around me big dents, making the hall I was in wider.  
I continued to demorph. I wanted fire-power to get rid of the big tentacle.  
I would advise you not to do that, Marco. Ax said.  
Why? I asked of Ax. He didn't need to give me an answer, the clubbed end of the tentacle changed to a side-way swing. At the bottom of the end of the tentacle, where the clubbed end was, I expected to see a bottom full of suckers squids usually have. No. Instead, there was a big eye glaring at me.  
Gwah! I yelped in surprise.  
Ha ha ha! I can see you! Visser three crowed. He lifted up the big eye and turned it backwards so the eye was on the other side of the tentacle that was coming down to hit me. I rolled away, as best as an owl could roll.  
When the tentacle hit the floor and made another dent, with the eye facing up now, Ax came up and hit the big eye several times with his tail blade.  
Aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh! Visser three yelled in pain.  
The tentacle shrank back and out into the open air. There was still a hole left at the bottom of the hatch. Ax took me through another door. He put me down and allowed me to demorph back to human.   
I looked around. I had seen a bug-fighter before. Ax returned to the controls at the front while Jake, Tobias, Rachel and Cassie sat around still in their odd variety of battle morphs. A tiger, a bear, a wolf and a hawk.   
How are we supposed to get rid of that thing? Rachel growled. I looked outside, but the front windows of the bug-fighter were gone so I couldn't see outside. Probably to stop Visser three from seeing inside with his tentacle-eyes.  
We can't shoot at it, the weapons can only aim the other way from where Visser three's main body is. Ax said.  
"Is there anymore tricks up this jion jajab's sleeve?" I asked, bring my arms up and down in exhassperration.  
A fion jaxib. Ax corrected. He used the controls in front of him to create a smaller three-dimensional image of the thing I saw outside.  
It had two different tentacles. Some where goldish, thin, wiry and segmented and could wave around like a high-speed whip. The others were thicker and looked more like very thick pale yellow squid tentacles with big bright purple eyes at the end.  
The main body had no eyes. It looked more like some sort of a dark purple flower like a rose or a tulip. At the bottom, though, between the tentacles, was a large, round mouth not too different from a taxxon's but with much longer teeth.  
Can't we just, fly away from it? Tobias asked.  
The fion jaxib can fly as well. Also, here is little chance any of us could get far enough from this fighter without it attacking us with it's tentacles. Ax explained.  
"Hey! How in the world can that thing fly?" I asked.  
Jet propulsion. Ax showed the inside of the thing's mouth. It had a long tube like a straw, but in it's main body, inside the 'petals' was a huge sac like some insect's abdomen. It blew air from the abdomen out through the tube.  
If we could just stop it from flying.... Jake thought out loud. He thought for a moment.  
I know! Jake said. Someone should fly inside it's mouth and bust that thing open!  
Risky. Rachel mused. I'll do it.  
No, I think I should. Cassie said. I am the fastest morpher.  
No. I'm the leader. I thought of this. I should do it. Jake said firmly.   
No, prince Jake. I believe I should. I only need my andalite body to damage Visser three. I could morph from that into a harrier and fly away. Ax said calmly.  
And who will fly this bug-fighter down? Tobias asked. If that's what you think, Ax, I should do it. I can fly in as hawk, morph something else like a polar bear, and fly back out as a hawk again.  
Then Rachel looked at me. Everyone one at a time turned to look at me.  
I felt guilty. I had no reason to go ahead and do this.   
Lucky last. Me.  
"Oh, okay, I had better do this!" I said. "No reason. But I'll do it. I shall be the one who would take the most risk with my lesser ability......" I said valiantly as a joke.  
Rachel rolled her bear eyes. Okay, okay! Already! Go, just do it. Just don't talk like that!  
Great. It was all up to me.  
I went back to the hatch I had come through. I morphed into an osprey. It could fly the best.  
I flew back outside and flapped hard to avoid getting blown awy by the wind away fom my goal.  
I flew close to the bug-fighter. I travelled along it's hull cautiously. Past the tentacles, I flared and flew around the thick ones that slammed down in front of me. I would have to avoid the whip-like ones, but fortunately, they were parallel to the direction I was going. They didn't seem to be able to go sideways.  
I landed on the edge of the bug-fighter. The tentacles still went away off it until they joined to the main body. I faced the middle of it's end, where the huge mouth Ax showed me was. I noticed that Visser three was using his tentacles to pull the bug-fighter closer somewhat slowly, closer to the big toothy mouth.  
Here goes. I said. I flew off the fighter and towards that big, ugly mouth.  
If you had ever seen star wars 'return of the jedi', with the part where Luke Skywalker was about to be thrown into that pit of Carcoon, before he flips away and does a planned attack with his lightsaber, that's exactly how it looked.  
I flew in. Between the long, sharp teeth. A tooth moved. my wing got stuck between them. I slammed into the teeth. I pulled away my wing, ripping off a few wing feathers.   
Past the teeth, I went into the thin tube. It was only slightly thicker tham by osprey body, and flying through it, I eventually got bashed around a bit.  
I arrived at the inside of that sac. Wind blew around me. There wasn't a lot of light. I could barely see.  
I demorphed back into human. Trying not to slip back down towards the tube.  
I then concentrated on my polar bear morph.  
My feet shifted and shaped themselves into big bear pads. My hands changed. My limbs grew thick and sturdy. Claws shot out. Thick white fur covered my body. My ears slid up my head and turned into bear ears, my mouth turned into a muzzle.  
I finished off the morph. I looked up, or what I guessed was up, with the angle I was standing at. Turned around to face the fleeshy wall. I stood up on two legs and slammed my paws into the flesh in front of me. It didn't give yet. I tried again. No. Again.  
The flesh tore and gave way. Wind whipped through the hole I just made. I struggled to gain balance.  
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Visser three roared in the pain I had just caused him.  
I slipped through the hole. Now I had to get out and fly away. Andalite scum! I will make you pay! Visser three roared again.  
I slammed into the 'petals'. I was already starting to feel lighter with both Visser three and the bug-fighter dropping. I hoped Ax could fly the fighter before we all hit the ground.  
The petals were to strong for me to tear. I tried tilting the petals a bit. I demorphed as fast as I could so I could slip through. Not waiting to completely demorph, I squeezed through a few layers of peyals. I saw a crack. I could see a stars. I squirmed through again and jumped. Into the night air.  
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!" I yelled as I dropped. But at the same time, I yelled. "Morphmorphmorphmorphmorphmorphmorph!!!"  
A tentacle tried to reach me as I fell. No luck. I was far past the bug-fighter and Visser three when I grew wings. I grew just small enough before I could hit the tallest tree. I looked down. We were above the forest.  
And I saw Jan again. With her pistol again. Aiming at me.  
Damn it, Jan! Not now! I yelled.   
Bang! Bang!  
Jan shot at me twice. I dodged.  
Jan, could you just leave me alone for the moment!? I yelled at her again.  
Bang!  
I was hit. I tumbled down. fortunately, I wasn't that high. I flapped a bit to gain some distance from where Jan stood. I slammed into the ground and demorphed. This wasn't the time to run away from Jan.  
I rushed to morph something quicker. My entire body covered with fur. A tail shot out. My eyes changed and I could see into the night.  
I waddled away as quick as my shifting legs would allow, waddling away from Jan. I finished my cheetah morph, and ran away top speed.  
Then I looked up.  
The bug-fighter, with Visser three still attached, came flying down.  
Oh no. I groaned.  
Jan burst through the bushes.  
"You're not getting away that easily!" Jan yelled, shooting at me again. She missed by miles.  
I had to get away from the dropping bug-fighter.  
And as I ran off, I prayed Jan would follow me.   
I couldn't let her get caught in the crash.  
Rachel! Jake! Ax! I called out to the bug-fighter.  
Marco! We're coming don for a landing, and it's gonna be rough! Jake warned.  
I was already tiring from the run.  
I slowed down. Jan caught up to me and aimed her weapon at me. But she too noticed bug-fighter falling down by now. She aimed at me, turned around, and decided to run away instead of chase me.  
I ran away again too. I ran quickly past Jan, ignoring my screaming muscles.  
Then I heard the other animorphs behind me, coming down.   
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!  
I had ran far enough to escape the crash, I was obviously at a safe distance. I looked behind me. Jan ran up, panting. She flopped down exhausted.  
I couldn't, though.  
I ran back towards the place where the bug-fighter landed. Jan was too exhausted to stop me from getting away.  
I stopped in front of the scene and panted. The bug-fighter was still somewhat intact, save a few smashed parts of the hull, but had been partially buried into the ground. Smoke rose up from it. Visser three was still tangled up onto it, and was peeling himself off, injured. The bug-fighter could obviously never fly again, though.  
I took a quick rest and began to demorph behind a tree. I was beyond tired. But I couldn't stop now.   
Just before I stopped having thought-speak I called out.  
Are you alright in there?  
Nothing too serious. Cassie said back. You know what they say; a landing you could walk away from is a good landing.  
I don't see you walking away from it. I said back.  
Visser three's still there. Jake said. I couldn't say anything back. I was fully human. Now I needed to morph again. Something big.  
Prince Jake... Ax announced.  
Don't call me prince. Jake reminded Ax.  
Yes, Prince Jake, you need to remorph. Ax said calmly. Your time limit is almost up.  
Okay. Rachel, Cassie and myself can demorph. Marco, whatever you're doing out there, try and get rid of Visser three. We need to get away. Ax, Tobias, give him a hand. Jake said.  
I'm already halfway into a rhino morph. I said to Jake. Just going to need a guide.  
Tobias and Ax should join you soon. Jake reminded me.  
I could no longer be hidden by a tree. Not that I needed to anymore. There wasn't a part of me that could be claimed to be surely human.  
My skin became a wrinkled gray colour. My nose gre an incredibly long horn. Then another behind it.  
I finished the morph and stepped into the scene. Ax hopped out from the fighter, followed by Tobias. Visser three had untangled himself from the bug-fighter and began to demorph. Then he saw me and stopped.  
Andalites. You have not beaten me yet. Visser three said.  
He lifted up a thicker crushed tentacle and brought it down onto me. It knocked the wind out of me and sent me onto my side. I struggled to get up while Visser three began to demorph again. He whipped a thin broken tentacle at Ax who blocked the tentacle as much as he could with his tail. It was too fast for Ax, but the end of the tentacle broke off and went flying. Grey goop came out and stopped as the tentacle shrank.  
I stood up and charged at Visser three.  
Marco! Left! Tobias yelled.  
I missed Visser three and knocked over a tree. I turned left and charged again, slamming into his changing body. Visser three had shrunk already, and flew a few metres away. I walked over to where he was with Tobias' guidance and brought my foot down onto him. Jake, Cassie and Rachel came out at this time, remorphed. The scars and scratches I noticed that they had had dissapeared. Their missing limbs grown back.  
Visser three wasn't going to win.  
You may have won this battle, andalite bandits....... Visser three groaned. Then he looked up.  
Something shimmered above me. Hovering over our heads was the blade ship. Black against even the night sky. It decloaked and stood ready.  
....But you will never win this war. Visser three finished. He finished demorphing and got up away from my huge rhino pads, holding up his hand signalling at the blade ship to fire.  
I let Visser three go and took off. The blade ship shot at me. Missed. They tried Rachel. It grazed her leg, leaving a large burn. She stumbled but kept on running.  
The blade ship tried Ax and Jake. Jake got singed. Ax was able to get away.  
I trampled through the trees, trying to get away. Dracon beams shot at me. I was the easiest target. A drcaon beam sliced my shoulder. Another burn on my nose. I needed to demorph.  
Bang! Something shot my head. Not a dracon beam.......  
Jan was in front of me, holding a smoking pistol. "You're mine, Visser three!"  
Visser three? What does she mean, Visser three? Rachel demanded of me.  
She thinks I'm Visser three because she saw me morph. I told Rachel. I demorphed. hiding myself from the bug-fighter and Visser three by staying behind trees.  
"After seeing you mess around with that bug-fighter, knowing it was coming, it's certain you're a yeerk." Jan claimed.  
I faced Jan. Jan, for once and for all, I AM NOT VISSER THREE! I yelled.  
I looked behind me through the path of knocked down trees I had made. LOOK JAN! THERE'S YOUR VISSER THREE!  
Jan looked at where the bug-fighter sat. Near it, Visser three, an andalite, began to morph again into what Ax called a kafit bird, growing several sets of wings and talons, probably to fly up and into the blade ship.  
"Tha-that's...Visser three?" Jan stammered. "How can...? What are you?"  
"I told you before. I'm part of a force that has the power to morph into animals to fight the yeerk invasion." I said drearily, now fully human.  
"Then....." Jan pulled back. The light had finally dawned on her.  
Watch out! Tobias yelled. I looked back. The blade ship gave up their search for us and hovered over the wrecked bug-fighter. They needed to destroy all evidence of themselves. Visser three now fully a kafit bird flew up to the blade ship. The blade ship's weapons hummed......  
Outta here! Jake yelled. We all ran away as fast as we all could.   
Jan tripped and sprawled over, her foot twisted. "Aahhhh!!! My ankle! Help! Marco!" She called. The last look I saw on her face was pleading at me. Begging.  
I didn't know what came over me then. This girl had tied me up and held me prisoner and shot me several times. But I needed to rescue her then.  
"Jan!" I ran back to her.  
Marco! Rachel stopped and used her bear jaw to bite my arm, dragging me along.  
"OWWWW! Rachel!" I yelped. "I need to get Jan!"  
No time! Rachel continued to pull me along. I ended up running away again. Away from Jan...........  
KRAKA-BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!  
I dived into the air at the last minute. The bug-fighter behing me exploded. A bright orange flower opening up, brightening the area around me. Hot air air shot over my head. It stopped at last, and I looked over my shoulder, for any sign of Jan. None.  
Rachel got up and began demorphing. I just lay there. My eyes began to water.  
"Jan..." I choked.  
Look, Marco, I'm sorry. But if I didn't stop you you would of both.... Rachel said before she couldn't use thought-speak anymore. Either that or her voice just trailed off.  
"I know." I groaned. I sat up and began to morph into an owl again.  
Rachel finished demorphing. "Going to look for her?" She asked.  
I didn't say anything. I kept on morphing until it finished and flew off. I swept around the burnt area of trees. Hork-bajir and humans were scanning the area in case they missed something. I flew around in circles. Then I spotted her.   
She was badly hurt, probably fatally wounded. Her short blonde hair was burnt. One of her brown eyes was bleeding.  
Jan! I called down. No response. Jan! Say something! Please!  
I began to descend to her side. I landed next to her on a blackened stump.  
Jan! Get up!I called again. I could hear her heart beating, but no breath. I began to demorph. Then I stopped.  
A hork-bajir came up and saw Jan lying broken on the ground. He listened for a breath. "Gfrash fit! To me!" The hork-bajir bellowed to another hork-bajir. It picked Jan up and accompanied by the other hork-bajir walked over to the blade ship which was parked nearby.   
No. They can't take Jan!  
I flew up and swooped at the hork-bajir, aiming for her eyes. The hork-bajir spotted me and ran away faster with Jan. The other swung a bladed arm at me. I flared back, and back up. The hork-bajir looked around for me, trying to find where I went to.  
Hey, tall, dark and ugly, you were looking for me, and guess what? You found me! I yelled at it. I swopped at it again and flew back up for another dive  
The other hork-bajir entered the blade ship, taking Jan. They closed the hatch. I flew towards it. I could just get through in time.....  
No. I slammed my face into the ship's side. I fell down, unconscious. I needed to demorph. Blackness....Just had to demorph.  
Marco. Someone called.  
Marco! Someone called again.  
Uh? I asked.  
Marco! Rachel hissed. Rachel and Tobias, as birds of prey, sat next to me. I was hidden from the yeerks gathering about the bladeship by some smouldering trees.  
Marco, demorph! You only have 5 minutes left in a morph. Tobias said.  
Oh. that got me up. I demorphed back into a human in about one and a half minutes.  
We were looking for you! Rachel scowled.  
"Jan..." I said. I heard a rumbling behind me. I turned to see the blade ship powering up again, ready to lift off.  
"Jan! I saw her! The yeerks...they took her inside!" I got up and ran towards the blade ship. Tobias and Rachel followed me. By the time I got there, the blade ship hovered in the air a few metres off the ground, swung around and up, and zoomed onto the now reddenning sky.  
"No!" I cried out. "No!"  
And Jan was on that ship. Tobias said. So they yeerks have her?  
Rachel stared at me with her piercing eagle eyes. And she saw Marco morph.  
"She was in a preety bad condition." I said. "She wasn't breathing...."  
The yeerks could possibly revive her. Tobias stared at me.  
Could they save Jan? Could they help her survive? The yeerks had better technology than humans had. They could save her. Possibly. They would have to. They wouldn't want anyone to know she had been caught up in yeerk activity. But the yeerks could just say it was a bushfire and that Jan got caught up in it. Why would they want to save Jan? Would they? Could they?  
And worse yet, what if they did, and infested her. Jan did say that the yeerks thought she was a controller. They could of just left her thinking she still was one of them. Or they could find out and do it to Jan again.   
"I don't know." I moaned. Cassie, Jake and Ax came up in their bird morphs.  
Cassie stared at me. She seemed to just be able to tell from my expression what was up. Jake and Ax needed explaining though.  
What happened? Jake asked.  
The yeerks took Jan. She was badly hurt, but still... Tobias explained.  
"Just like my Mother!" I complained, kicking a burnt sapling and sending ashes everywhere. Everyone looked at my sudden outrage.  
"The yeerks just took my mother and I never knew if she'd dead or one of them or what!" I said through clenched teeth.  
Marco. We're sorry about this. We know it's a war. Innocents get caught up. But....... Cassie tried to help me.   
"I know already." I scowled at her. "This always happens to me. Why? Story of my life." I started to laugh. "She just goes around thinking I'm Visser three, and she has no idea as to what I'm really up to. Now I don't know what she's up to! Always happens to me. The world is just full of irony."  
Cassie started to thought-speak something, but Jake seemed to stop her. Let Marco laugh it off. He'll get through it. Jake advised.  
"And you know what's even worse? Jan tied me up, thinking I was Visser three, shot me and yelled at me so much that I'm deaf, but I still actually LIKE her! Why? I have NO idea. Maybe it's because we were both totally NUTS!" I said, waving my arms around.  
Yeah, I've noticed that recently. Anyway, it's getting early. Rachel noticed. Parents think that we're at someone else's house.  
We should all go home. Jake said. Get at least some rest. Someone should watch over Marco. If Jan is a controller now, the yeerks would go after Marco first. They know for certain he's the one who can morph. They don't know that the rest of us can. Providing, of course, how much Marco told Jan......  
"She doesn't know who you are." I reassured Jake. "But I can look after myself, thank you very much."  
Ax will keep an eye out for Marco. Jake said firmly. I'll try and contact Erek. Find out what happened to Jan. He might know.  
I sighed. "Whatever. And while you're at it, find out what happened to you people! Why didn't you try to rescue me or anything? Couldn't you find me?"  
Well, we did have a refinery to blow up... Tobias reminded me.  
"And what happened there?" I asked. "Same old, same old? Just typical battle between different animals and a bunch of hork-bajir and taxxons?"  
Yep. Rachel laughed. Basically that was it. Believe it or not. Big fight. Ax tampered with the computer. Big fight. Flew away, Visser three turned up.  
"So you didn't find me?" I sulked. "And no-one missed me?"   
We knew where you were. We just thought you could handle that on your own. Rachel said.  
I gave a fake gasp. "You actually believed I could handle something on my own?"  
Yep! Jake laughed. After all that happened, you should start your own buisness!  
I laughed. My mood lifted up a bit. But I still felt sad inside. I worried about Jan.  
I would have to wait. Only time would tell.  
I morphed into an osprey and flew back into my bed and demorphed. I was tired. I didn't care what Dad would say when he found me in my bed instead of at Jake's place.   
I woke up again. I hear a barking. Euclid came into my room. I left the door ajar. There goes my chance of sleeping in late.  
I got up. No chance of me getting back to bed again with Euclid refusing to get out of my room without biting me a few times.  
Nora and Dad glared at me the moment I opened the door.  
"Where were you?" My Dad asked me angrily. I opened my mouth to speak. But Nora cut in. She sighed. "I rang up Jake's place. Neither of you were there."  
"Ummmm........" I rushed to think of an excuse. "Errrr......we decided to sleep over at someone else's place...." I lied.  
"Who?" Dad demanded.  
"Um...Erek! I stayed over at Erek's place..." I lied again. "I'll just call him. Ask his Dad..."  
I gave them the phone number, and quickly explained to Mr King my little escapade last night. He played his act.  
"Okay. My mistake. But next time tell us where you go." Dad handed me the reciever.  
"Sorry about that. Thanks." I said.  
"Anytime." Mr King said. "But about Jan..."  
"Jan? Do you know what happened to her?" I demanded.  
"We told Jake what we know. But it appears you phoned us first." Mr King said. "The yeerks saved Jan. But she's in a coma. They said that there was a bushfire and she got caught up in it. They're keeping her in a human hospital." Mr King told me.   
"They don't know about us, do they?" I asked.  
"No. Nothing. But Jan......" Mr King started to say.  
"What?" I asked.  
Mr King paused for a moment. "Never mind." He finally said. "It's not important. I told Jake anyway." Mr King hung up, leaving me wondering what was up. Jake called afterwards. I told him I knew what happened to Jan.  
I still sort of liked her. She was paranoid. But still...which was more important? The relationship, or the argument? I wanted to value our relationship more.  
I went back into my room. Euclid had left, luckily for me. I looked at my desk. I still had homework to do. Like the make-up test I had to study for, for my bad results from my Tutankhamen essays. After all that happened, I had an ordinary life to manage as well.  
I decided to concentrate on my homework. I still felt sad. Jan was in a coma. Safe, but in a coma. I didn't know how long she would be like that.  
I shrugged and hoped for her and dug into my studying, listening to my walkman again and pigging out on chilli flavoured chips instead of breakfast. I was hungry after all that happened. I was listening to NIN this time.  
Well, Marco, we'll just have to see about you. A voice, female, thought-spoke from somewhere. It didn't sound like Rachel or Cassie......  
"Who said that?" I asked, looking around my room. I looked around for a while and gave up.  
Life had to go on.  
  



End file.
